Overview of Scene Three from A Streetcar Named Desire

Surrealism and Violence in Scene Three

• 'Coloured shirts...they are men at the peak of their physical manhood.' - Clashing and alpha male struggle
• 'Lights spilled' - Uncontrolled setting
• 'Whiskey bottles' shows that alcohol is prominent from the start of the play
• Stanley's language is aggressive and he's ordering the other men around 'Ante up!'
• Stanley's actions are threatening 'He lurches up and tosses watermelon ring to the floor

The game Poker is a game of deception and bluffing with high stakes

• The whole play is like a game of Poker.
• 'A chair scrapes' - Build up of frustration
• Stanley and Blanche linked through her undressing in the light for-shadows the rape scene.
• 'I can't stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action' - Excess on her act of purity, over exaggerating her act.